Windows & WSL

Run Anthracode natively on Windows, or use WSL when you prefer a Linux development environment.

Anthracode ships a native Windows x64 binary through npm — no WSL, Docker, or Linux subsystem required. Use WSL only when your project already lives in a Linux toolchain or you prefer /mnt/c/... workflows.

Setup

Install Node.js 18+

Install Node.js from nodejs.org if node --version is not available.
Install Anthracode natively

Open PowerShell or Windows Terminal and install the published npm package:
Terminal window
```
npm i -g anthracode-ai
```
Run Anthracode in your project

Navigate to your project directory and run Anthracode.
Terminal window
```
cd C:\Users\YourName\project
anthracode
```

Optional — WSL workflow

If your repo and build tools already live in WSL, install from the Linux terminal instead:

curl -fsSL https://www.anthracode.com/install | bash

Then run Anthracode from the WSL path where your repo lives.

Desktop App + WSL Server

If you prefer using the Anthracode Desktop app but want to run the server in WSL:

Start the server in WSL with --hostname 0.0.0.0 to allow external connections:
Terminal window
```
anthracode serve --hostname 0.0.0.0 --port 4096
```
Connect the Desktop app to http://localhost:4096

ANTHRACODE_SERVER_PASSWORD=your-password anthracode serve --hostname 0.0.0.0

Accessing Windows Files

WSL can access all your Windows files through the /mnt/ directory:

C: drive → /mnt/c/
D: drive → /mnt/d/
And so on…

Example:

cd /mnt/c/Users/YourName/Documents/project
anthracode

Tips

For Windows repos, run Anthracode natively from PowerShell or Windows Terminal.
For Linux repos, run Anthracode inside WSL and keep the repo under the WSL filesystem (for example ~/code/project) for best filesystem performance.
If you use VS Code with WSL, pair it with the WSL extension and run Anthracode in the same distro.
Native Windows config lives under your Windows user profile; WSL config lives inside the WSL distro. They are separate environments.